


Involuntary Annoyances

by cielsdemon



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 08:32:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5085559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cielsdemon/pseuds/cielsdemon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She hiccups again as the meeting is being called to order, quiet enough that no one hears her over the director’s strong voice.</p><p>Oh dear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Involuntary Annoyances

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's block is kicking my butt I'm so sorry....... This was written in like...early summer? I think? But it's one of the only fics I have finished rn, so!
> 
> Enjoy :)

“But I don’t _want_ to go William,” Grell whines for the umpteenth time. Will sighs and clenches his hand around his death scythe.

 

“I know you don’t want to go,” he says, holding up one finger when Grell opens her mouth, another complaint on the tip of her tongue, “but they’ve asked for _all_ senior reapers to attend. By some miracle you still hold that title, so you must attend the meeting.”

 

Grell’s mouth pulls down at the corners with a pout. “Fine,” she grouses, crossing her arms over her chest. “But I won’t enjoy it.”

 

Will barely resists rolling his eyes. “I don’t care.” He opens the door to the meeting room and narrows his eyes at Grell. “Don’t embarrass me.”

 

Grinning, Grell reaches out to dust Will’s already immaculate lapels. “I would never,” she purrs, patting his chest. With a toss of her hair, she breezes past Will and finds her name on one of the cards laid out on the table. There are already several reapers at their seats, talking quietly and pouring glasses of ice water.

 

She frowns, peering at Will’s card that is all the way across the table and down three seats from hers. She’ll never be able to use him as a distraction from this distance.

 

Grell lowers herself into her seat between a stuffy looking grey-haired man and a younger blonde woman in a sharp pantsuit. Lip curling slightly at the boring reapers around her, she leans back in her seat and catches Will’s eye, winking at him.

 

His right eyebrow twitches and Grell covers her mouth, smothering a laugh that turns into a quiet hiccup. Oh no. Her eyes widen slightly and she swallows, one hand pressing lightly to her chest. It hitches under her palm with another hiccup and she curses under her breath.

 

She hiccups again as the meeting is being called to order, quiet enough that no one hears her over the director’s strong voice.

 

Oh dear. If she doesn’t get these hiccups under control, Will is going to be furious with her. She doesn’t need any more red marks on her record. No matter how many times she insists they only add to the beauty of her file, the amount of red ink that is creeping into black ink is becoming startlingly large, even for her.

 

The next hiccup that slips from between her lips is covered just barely with a delicate cough. Will’s eyebrow twitches again and Grell winces slightly.

 

For the next ten minutes, Grell does her best to cover each hiccup with a cough or a clearing of her throat. She holds her breath until her cheeks pink up, and bites hard into the inside of her cheek as she tries as hard as she can not to make a sound.

 

She’s not sure it’s working as well as she thinks it is. The gentleman beside her keeps glancing her way, concern and annoyance warring on his face and the woman across from her isn’t trying to hide her distain. Grell would like to smack her for it, but she won’t. Will would be very disappointed in her if she caused a scene.

 

By the time the director calls for a short break, Will looks like he wants to murder her. He’s gone well past disappointment now, and Grell sighs. Her features scrunch in anticipation of a smack as Will gets up out of his seat and weaves his way through the chatty reapers around them to get to her. He doesn’t hit her, but his grip on her arm is none too gentle as he pulls her up out of her seat and toward an empty corner of the room.

 

“I specifically told you not to embarrass me,” Will hisses, pushing her toward the wall. “Just what do you think you’re doing making all that noise?”

 

“Wi – _hic_ – William, I –“ Grell starts, cutting herself off with another hiccup. Will’s brow rises this time, the irritation on his face abating slightly. “I have the hiccups,” Grell gushes, speaking the words quickly to get them out before she hiccups again.

 

“You have the hiccups,” he deadpans, unamused.

 

“You think I’m faking? Will, – _hic_ – I told you I’d be on my best – _hic_ – behavior. I don’t want any marks against – _hic_ – me for something as ordinary as disrupting a meeting.” Grell waves one hand in front of her and then covers her mouth as she lets out another hiccup.

 

“It’s not necessary for reapers to breathe, Grell. This shouldn’t be happening.”

 

“It’s a habit! I spent – _hic_ – too long in the human world – _hic_ – and those blowhards breathe all the time – _hic_ –.”

 

Will rolls his eyes and glances behind him, making sure no one is paying them any mind before he moves to snatch a glass of water from the table. “Drink this,” he orders, brandishing the glass like a weapon.

 

“I’ve al – _hic_ – already tried that,” Grell complains, but she takes the glass and has a sip. She meets Will’s expectant gaze as she holds the water in her mouth for a beat, then swallows. She hiccups. “See?!”

 

Will’s eyebrow twitches.

 

“Hold your breath,” he suggests next, placing the glass of water on a nearby table. “Twenty seconds, you can manage that much.” Grell glares as she puffs out her cheeks and stops breathing.

 

Thirteen seconds into the twenty she was told to stop breathing, she hiccups again. Grell slumps back against the wall with a loud groan and startles when Will claps a hand over her mouth. Her protests are muffled against the fabric of his glove as he clamps his hand more firmly over her lips.

 

“Shh.” Grell narrows her eyes at Will but relaxes slightly so he’ll let her go.

 

She hiccups again before quietly demanding, “What the hell, Will? Were you – _hic_ – trying to scare me?”

 

“No, I was trying to shut you up. Scaring you might not be a bad idea, however.” Will taps one finger against the side of his glasses in thought and Grell grimaces, shrinking away from the calculating look in his eye.

 

Her eyes widen as he looms closer to her, taking advantage of their height difference to back her down into the corner. “Will?” she asks hesitantly, one hand lifting to clutch at his suit jacket.

 

“That coat you bought last week,” Will says seriously, “I spilled ink on it.”

 

Grell gasps and clutches Will’s jacket tighter. “William!” she scolds, smacking his chest with both hands. “That’s not – _hic_ – scaring me. It’s – _hic_ – making me want to – _hic_ – kill you!”

 

Will frowns and straightens back up, brushing Grell’s hands from his torso with a sigh. “Honestly. Will nothing work?”

 

Grell pouts and crosses her arms. “Apparently – _hic_ – not.”

 

Across the room, the director is calling the meeting back to order. Reapers are finding their seats again and Grell swallows nervously. Will’s eyes narrow and he takes a step away from Grell, one hand curling around her arm to pull her with him.

 

“I’m – _hic_ – sorry,” she says earnestly. “I’m not – _hic_ – trying to get you – _hic_ – in trouble, Will.”

 

“I know.” Will pauses as a thought occurs to him. His gaze sweeps the room and determines no one is paying much attention to them. He turns to face Grell again, hand still holding onto her arm.

 

“Will?” Grell hiccups over his name and huffs, about to turn her face away when Will’s fingers catch her chin. Her eyes flick up to meet his and widen comically when he leans in and presses a kiss to her lips.

 

It’s a quick brush, there and gone, but Grell’s cheeks flush bright red and she clutches her chest. Before she can say a single word, Will walks away from her, his steps as even and unhurried as ever.

 

She stares after him, still blushing, her fingertips pressed against her lips.

 

“Sutcliff.”

 

Grell startles at the sound of her name and looks up to see the director and every other reaper in the room staring at her. “Oops,” she laughs, sweeping forward to take her seat again. “Don’t let me stop the party, director.”

 

She keeps her fingers pressed to her lips and her eyes on Will for the rest of the meeting. She doesn’t hiccup once.

**Author's Note:**

> Can reapers get the hiccups? Probably not. I took some liberties.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Find us on [tumblr](http://cielsdemon.tumblr.com).


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